


By Chance

by abs2891



Series: Masks AU [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Angst, M/M, Romance, death of a coworker, masksau
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 16:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14023956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abs2891/pseuds/abs2891
Summary: Baekhyun hadn’t planned on losing the key to the handcuffs.  Well… actually he had, just not to the point where he couldn’t find them again.  Everything would be fine though because he was sure there was a way for the hot guy at the fire station to get them off Yixing's hands.   [Masks Spinoff]





	By Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for dealing with the death of friends/coworkers - don't read if that will be upsetting for you.

 

Baekhyun doesn’t plan on losing the keys to the handcuffs.  Well… actually he does, but not to the point where he can’t find them again.  He had just wanted Yixing to not be able to find them.  That way, he had to dance the night with the broken cuffs around his wrists, and Baekhyun’s vision of the perfect outfit for him would be complete.

Unfortunately though, Baekhyun “loses” the keys to the handcuffs a little too well, and now, at three in the morning, Yixing is staring at him with two silver-cuffed hands on his hips as he waits to learn how Baekhyun is going to get him out of his current predicament.

Honestly, Baekhyun has no idea what he is going to do.  The bolt cutters he has had been strong enough to cut the chain linking the cuffs together, but they can’t cut through the cuffs themselves.  Yixing’s hands aren’t small enough to slip through them either.  That means they must find something else to cut them off.

Baekhyun isn’t quite sure what that things is, but he is sure it isn’t in the back of Luhan’s strip club, so after a couple of seconds, he tells Yixing to get dressed.

Yixing raises an eyebrow before he turns and begins to pull on his clothes.  Baekhyun hopes by the time he manages to get them on, he has an idea of how to get the cuffs off Yixing’s wrists.

\---

Baekhyun’s moment of inspiration comes as he pulls on his own pants, and his eyes fall upon the fire extinguisher on the wall.

Firemen.

They have to have some kind of tool that cuts through metal, right?  It is either that or a hardware store, and hardware stores aren’t open at three in the morning, so that leaves firemen.  It is the perfect idea.  It has to work.

Yixing hates it.

He grumbles the entire way about how mortifying it is to go ask a firefighter at three a.m. to cut handcuffs off his wrists.

Does Baekhyun not realize the implications?

Does he not understand that these guys are supposed to help keep people safe from fires, not from their best friend’s stupidity?

Baekhyun shrugs as they near the precinct.

“Technically, a fire could be caused by a best friend’s stupidity.”  He reasons with a smirk.

Yixing lets out a huff as he holds out one of his wrists, shaking it in the air.  “This is not a fire.  This is  _stupid_.”  He says before continuing on in mumbled Chinese that Baekhyun is glad he doesn’t understand as he laughs hesitantly and reaches out to push down Yixing’s hand. 

“I know, I know.  But I’m fixing it remember?  Look,” he adds as they reach the front door of the precinct, “I’ll do all the talking.  You can just stand there.”

“Either way, they still have to cut them off my wrists.”  Yixing says with a defeated sigh as Baekhyun presses the buzzer.

He glances back at his rather downtrodden friend as he hears the buzzer echo behind the door.  “Trust me.  It’ll be fine.”  He reassures.

Really, how bad can it be?

Surely whoever works the graveyard shift at the station is—

—really freakin’ tall, and kind of hot, once you get passed the worried expression on his face and the disheveled, wavy brown hair.

Suddenly, all of the explanations Baekhyun had been planning to offer vanish and the guy in a t-shirt and shorts behind the partially open door stares at him for a couple seconds after asking if they need anything in a voice that is deep and velvety smooth.  It’s a voice that Baekhyun can envision himself listening to forever, and, if Yixing‘s foot wasn't crushing his toes, he might have said just that.  However, Yixing’s foot is crushing his toes, and so, Baekhyun shakes his head, puts on his best smile, and leans up to whisper in the increasingly confused looking hot guy’s ear.

“I may have accidentally trapped my friend in handcuffs.  I was hoping you could get them off before he kills me.”  He says, mouthing please as he pulls away while letting his eyes drift in the direction of an increasingly murderous looking Yixing.

In front of him, the fireman blinks a couple times before he laughs and shakes his head while sticking out his hand.  “Can I see them?”  He asks, sounding extremely amused as Yixing flushes and sticks out his wrist.

Thankfully, the cuffs aren’t surrounded by fluffy pink feathers or anything like that.  They are just simple plain silver, and after glancing at them for a couple seconds, the fireman drops Yixing’s wrist and nods towards a side door of the garage.  “We should have something to get these off.  I’ll let you in over there.”

Yixing nods once, and turns to head towards the door, clearly ready to get things over with.  Therefore, it is Baekhyun who grabs the arm of the fireman before he can turn to go back inside and make his way over to the other door.  “Thank you.”  He says, a grateful and relieved smile passing over his features that is greeted with another laugh and then a yawn.

“No problem.  I’d rather be saving boyfriends from handcuffs anyways.  Much less stressful.”  The fireman says.

Baekhyun’s grip slips, momentarily at a loss for words.  “He’s not my--"

The man laughs again and leans forward to whisper in Baekhyun’s ear.  “If he’s not, then why would he let you handcuff him?”  He whispers, pulling back with a smirk before turning and disappearing into the precinct with another yawn.

The last thing Baekhyun sees as he disappears is his name emblazoned across the back of his shirt.

Chanyeol.

Well, at least Baekhyun now has a name for the latest entrant into his midnight fantasies.

\---

Chanyeol does succeed in removing Baekhyun’s mistake from Yixing’s risks.  He even does it without bringing up Baekhyun and Yixing’s supposed relationship, which is a relief.  Baekhyun is pretty sure Yixing would never let him hear the end of it if he knew he had been labeled Baekhyun’s boyfriend on top of everything else.

Once the cuffs are off, he quickly departs.  He has a class in the morning and wants to sleep, but Baekhyun lingers for a couple seconds, causing Chanyeol to arch an eyebrow in his direction.  “Yes?”  He asks, moving to hang up the large pair of bolt cutters he’d grabbed off the truck.

Baekhyun licks his lips nervously, swallowing down an unexpected bundle of nerves.  “He’s not my boyfriend.  Really.”  He finally manages as Chanyeol finishes getting the bolt cutters back on their respective hook.

He turns back to Baekhyun with his eyebrow still arched, expression doubtful.  “He’s not?”  He asks, beginning to walk towards where Baekhyun stands in the garage.

“He’s not.  He’s really, really not.”  Baekhyun says, almost stuttering as he gains a full appreciation for how much taller than him Chanyeol is as he stops less than a foot away, a small smirk beginning to form on his face.

“And why are you insisting on telling me this?”  He asks, one of his hands reaching out to settle on Baekhyun’s upper arm, making Baekhyun shudder.

“Because I—“

_Bring, Bring, Bring_

Baekhyun jumps nearly a mile high as the station alarm goes off, the volume almost deafening.

In an instant, Chanyeol’s hand falls away as others began to pile into the garage, calling his name, and after a slightly disappointed smile passes over his face, Chanyeol turns and runs towards the gear along the wall, yelling over his shoulder as he goes.  “We should talk later.”

Baekhyun bobs his head as he begin to back out of the garage.  They should.  They really, really should.

Except, they won’t, because the next morning Baekhyun decides that trying to hook up with sexy fireman Chanyeol is probably not the best idea when he’s on the rebound from a relationship that was… well, it was far from healthy to say the least, and so, Baekhyun doesn’t try to find Chanyeol again.  He almost forgets about him even.

Then, almost a year later, he finds Chanyeol again, in the most unlikely of places, a known gay bar tucked away in the corner of the street approximately five minutes from Baekhyun’s apartment.

At first, Baekhyun doesn’t believe his eyes.  He’s been coming to this bar for months.  It is close to his apartment and provides a very convenient place for him to find whatever he is looking for, be it a nice dance or something a little more… intimate.

He has had to reign in his time lately as work kept him busy, but he genuinely likes his new job, even if arguing with celebrity managers is the bane of his existence.  He recently had to make sure a certain actress’s room contained only blue M&M’s.  It was a ridiculous request, but the interview had brought in monster ratings and probably had scored him a bonus, so it was totally worth it.

In fact, Baekhyun had been intending to celebrate his windfall with a night of booze and loose hands, but, almost the same instant he processes the fact that the guy at the bar really is Chanyeol, he also processes the fact that Chanyeol is in really bad shape.  Like, really bad.

His head is resting on the counter while his hand clutches a glass.  Every so often, in what looks like a monumental effort, he lifts his head and takes a sip.  For a couple moments after that, it looks like Chanyeol is going to go over backwards to the floor, but then, he puts his head back down on the bar and the process repeats.

Baekhyun bites his lip as he glances towards the bartender while nodding in Chanyeol’s direction.  “How long has he been here?”  He whispers quietly, standing far enough away he is certain Chanyeol won’t hear, if he even can hear anymore.

Heechul sighs as he slings Baekhyun’s usual drink down the counter.  “Two hours.  He’s on his sixth glass.”  He says as Baekhyun catches his vodka sour and takes a sip.

“Of what?”  He asks as Chanyeol blearily raised his head again.

“Whiskey.”  Heechul gasps as he lunges, grabbing Chanyeol’s shoulders as what began as a tilt back to take another drink nearly becomes a disastrous meeting with the floor.  Baekhyun moves quickly to help, and with a bit of effort, they have Chanyeol pitching forward back onto the bar counter as he mumbles out something that is probably an apology, but that is hardly coherent.

“And that’s the last one of those.”  Heechul says, pulling the glass from Chanyeol’s hand as he rests somewhat lifelessly on the bar.

“Shouldn’t you have cut him off earlier?”  Baekhyun grunts as he moves, getting a steadying hand on Chanyeol’s back as Heechul lets out a heavy sigh.

“Didn’t have the heart.”  He murmurs, eyes studying Chanyeol’s face for a couple seconds before he turns to pour out the contents of his final glass in the sink behind him.

“What does that mean—No, don’t get up.  Stay put.”  Baekhyun says, pushing Chanyeol back down as he makes to stand up from the bar stool before focusing back on Heechul’s face.

Heechul lets out another sigh before pointing at Chanyeol’s shirt.  It is a fire station issue t-shirt, complete with his precinct number stamped on the sleeve.  “Did you see the news yesterday?”

Baekhyun blinks, and then he gasps.  “That was his…”  Baekhyun’s voice trails off as he looks down at Chanyeol’s face.  There had been a fire the previous day.  A bad fire.

Heechul nods from behind the counter.  “Yeah.  They lost two men.”  He murmurs, looking down at Chanyeol’s face with a sigh before glancing back up a Baekhyun.  “You can leave him.  I’ll have some of the guys drag him to the back.  I’m sure you didn’t come here to babysit.”  He says, a knowing smirk on his lips.

Baekhyun freezes.  He hadn’t.  He really hadn’t come to babysit, and he could let go.  He could let go and leave Chanyeol there and he’d never be the wiser, but… Chanyeol had bailed Baekhyun out when he’d been in a bad spot before, and between a chair in the back and the couch at Baekhyun’s apartment, Chanyeol will get a better night’s sleep on the latter, which he will need.  He is going to have a hell of a hangover no matter what Baekhyun does.

Baekhyun moves, tightening the grip of one of his arms around Chanyeol’s waist as he maneuvers under his arm.  “I didn’t, but I think this is a special case.”  He says, groaning as he pulls Chanyeol upright from the stool.  His weight nearly sends them both tumbling to the floor, but Baekhyun manages to keep them both upright as Heechul appraises the pair of them with a raised brow.

“You sure?”  He asks, leaning forward to grab Baekhyun’s drink as well.

Baekhyun nods as he turns towards the bar door.  “I owe him one.”  He murmurs, keeping his grip on Chanyeol’s waist tight as he stumbles towards the door.

\---

Chanyeol doesn’t drink.  He doesn’t like the taste of alcohol, doesn’t like feeling drunk, and his job isn’t exactly compatible with hangovers or even slightly impaired judgment.  Therefore, waking up with a pounding headache and a tongue that feels as dry as the Sahara is a new and unpleasant experience.

What had he been thinking?  Had he even been thinking?

If Chanyeol is being entirely honest with himself, probably not.  He hadn’t been thinking.  He hadn’t wanted to.  All Chanyeol wanted was to forget that in two days he had to bury two people he’d never be able to speak to again, and since work insisted on putting the team on leave—emotional recovery, or some shit like that—he couldn’t work to distract himself, so, for the first time in years, he drank.

It is a decision Chanyeol is already regretting deeply before he realizes that the wall his eyes are barely focusing on isn’t the right color.  Suddenly, despite his headache, Chanyeol is feeling a whole lot more awake as he sits up in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room with little in the way to identify where he is or how he got there.

When he catches sight of himself in the mirror on the dresser across from the foot of the bed, he winces.  He looks like shit.  His hair is a disaster; his eyes are bloodshot; and, he isn’t wearing a shirt, or pants, he realizes with a start as he registers the feeling of sheets connecting with the bare skin of his thighs.

Chanyeol reaches down and flings off the blankets on his lap.  His body sags in relief in an instant.  His boxers are still on, and they look clean.  Hopefully, that means he hasn’t done something else to compound his already extreme stupidity.

He groans as he drags himself out of bed, taking extra time to carefully set his feet on the floor and walk towards the door.  He can smell something cooking from the kitchen, and while he is dreading meeting whoever owns the apartment he has apparently invaded, he knows he can’t put it off forever.  He is going to have to live with his mistakes, starting with the guy with short brown hair standing in the kitchen biting his tongue as he waits for a pancake to cook.

He looks up when the door creaks as Chanyeol pushes it closed, jumping slightly before he recovers and nods towards one of the chairs at the kitchen table.  “I washed your clothes.  You took them off before I could stop you.”  He adds as Chanyeol hesitantly bobs his head and moves forward to grab the aforementioned objects from where they were slung over the back of a kitchen chair.

“I… I don’t like to sleep in much.”  He admits with a blush as a he pulls on his pants, followed by his shirt.  From the kitchen, the short guy lets out a small laugh as he flips what Chanyeol can now tell is the latest in a large number of pancakes stacked on a plate.

“I figured.  It’s not a big deal.  The view was pleasant.”  He says, a small smile on his face as he moves away from the stove, grabbing a glass of water and a pair of pills from the counter as he walks over to where Chanyeol stands.  “I’m guessing you could use this.”  He adds with another smile as he sets the pills in one of Chanyeol’s hands while pressing the glass into the other.

Chanyeol jumps a bit before managing to curl his hands around the objects.  “Yeah,” he whispers, at a loss for words as the guy turns away to head back to the stove to continue cooking, saying nothing else as Chanyeol opts to swallow the offered medicine, and several gulps of water, before he tries speaking again, voice hesitant.

“I’m sorry.  You may have already told me this, but you are…”  Chanyeol lets his voice trail off as the guy at the stove lets out a small laugh.  He turns off the stove and moves towards the table with two plates of pancakes in his grasp.

“I’m Baekhyun, and to save you having to ask, no, we didn’t do anything last night, nor were you the one to suggest we come here.  I did that myself.”  Baekhyun says, setting the plates on the table along with some silverware Chanyeol only then realized he had stuck under his arm.

Chanyeol swallows dryly as he stands in the kitchen, unsure how to respond.  Finally, he settles on the only thing he can think to ask.  “Why?”  Because it doesn’t make sense.  Honestly, who takes a random person home from a bar, puts them to bed, and prepares them breakfast the next morning.  Really, who does that?

Baekhyun laughs again and gestures towards the table with an insistent shake of his hand while ignoring Chanyeol's question.  “I didn’t poison it.  Really.”  He says, still smiling, and that, that is when it hits Chanyeol, the sound of Baekhyun’s voice repeating “really” echoing in his ears, hearkening back to a purple haired boy with eyeliner and a handcuffed not-boyfriend at three in the morning, and suddenly, it all makes sense.

Chanyeol sits down in Baekhyun’s offered chair with a nod.  “Thanks.”  He murmurs, grabbing a fork and shoving a piece of pancake into his mouth as Baekhyun laughs and reaches out to grab Chanyeol’s glass from where he had set it down on the table.

“Don’t mention it.”  He says, returning moments later with another glass for Chanyeol along with one of his own.

\---

They eat in silence.

Baekhyun doesn’t really know what to say.  He hadn’t really thought through how the morning would progress after he’d dragged Chanyeol to his place the previous evening.  His original plan had been to put Chanyeol on the couch, and indeed, that had been where Chanyeol had been to start the evening, but, sometime in the middle of the night, Baekhyun had been woken up by Chanyeol crawling into his bed.

Chanyeol didn’t try anything.  He didn’t even seem to be aware that Baekhyun was there, and well, Baekhyun didn’t have the heart to shove the poor guy out of his bed when he was still so clearly out of it, so he hadn’t.  He just hadn’t considered how awkward that would be on top of everything else.

Really, Baekhyun is usually great at breaking tension.  It is kind of his specialty actually, but… what do you say to a man who just drank to forget two people he has lost for good?

Baekhyun doesn’t know.  He really doesn’t know, but finally, as their silent breakfast is winding down, he decides that he has to say something.  He has to try to make things better, if he can.

“Do you want to talk about it?”  He asks, trying to keep his tone gentle and non-intrusive as he sets his fork down on table.  Chanyeol, who has been dragging his own fork back and forth across an emptied plate, jumps, looking up at Baekhyun in surprise before slowly shaking his head.

“Not really, no.”  He whispers, setting his fork down with a sigh before standing up from the table.  “I’m sorry.  I think I should—“

Baekhyun lunges, wrapping his fingers around Chanyeol’s arm to hold him in place.  “Stay.”  He says, squeezing Chanyeol’s arm.

“What?”  Chanyeol asks, staring down at Baekhyun in surprise.

“Stay.”  Baekhyun repeats, squeezing Chanyeol’s arm again.  “As long as you need.  You don’t want to be alone, right?”  He asks, looking up at Chanyeol hesitantly, hoping he isn’t overstepping as Chanyeol studies him cautiously.

After a couple seconds, he slowly shakes his head.  “No.  I don’t.”  He admits, voice quiet.

Baekhyun nods as he squeezes Chanyeol’s arm once more.  “Then stay.”  He repeats, using his free hand to gesture towards his couch.  “I have lots of space.”

Chanyeol turns away from Baekhyun’s face as he follows the gesture.  He doesn’t turn back as he responds, voice holding the hint of a tremor that Baekhyun pretends not to hear.  “Thanks.”

Baekhyun nods again even though Chanyeol can’t see it.  “Anytime.”

_Really.  Anytime._

\---

That is the first of many days Chanyeol spends on Baekhyun’s couch.  Thankfully, many of those days are much less somber than the first when Baekhyun just keeps bringing Chanyeol food every couple of hours while Chanyeol drifts in and out, sleeping off his hangover over the course of the day.

He even ends up staying at Baekhyun’s again that night, falling asleep for good around 10:00 PM to the sounds of Baekhyun singing as he cleans the dishes from dinner.

The next morning, he is awoken by Baekhyun’s softly smiling face and a gentle prodding that he needs to go back to his place to get ready for the funerals he said he needed to attend.  On an impulse, Chanyeol asks if Baekhyun will go with him.

He goes.

And when Chanyeol cries, he discretely slips his hand into his and squeezes it until he stops.

In that instant, a bond that had been forming is firmly carved into stone.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun are… well, they are something.  Friends perhaps, but there are plenty of times Chanyeol feels like that doesn’t quite fit as he slowly gets back to himself.  He just doesn’t have the emotional capacity to figure out what might fit better, not for several months during which, as previously mentioned, Chanyeol often finds himself curled up on Baekhyun’s couch.

After some time, most of those instances are proceeded by raucous laughter, fun, and no more alcohol.  At least, not for Chanyeol.  Baekhyun has the occasional sip, but for the most part, he abstains as well.  As he puts it, he doesn’t need to drink because hanging out with Chanyeol is fun enough.

When Chanyeol asks if that is a compliment, Baekhyun say yes, making Chanyeol blush and wonder for the first of many times whether he should reevaluate their friendship.

He doesn’t though.

Not that night or any other.

Because Chanyeol is too afraid to learn what might happen if he tries and it all blows up in his face.

Baekhyun though… Baekhyun is never afraid.  Baekhyun is fearless, or well, Chanyeol thinks he is when he places a kiss on Chanyeol’s cheek one day as they sit next to each other watching late night Comedy Central.

It really is out of nowhere.  So quick that Chanyeol barely registers it occurring.  Moreover, Baekhyun pulls back acting like it hasn’t even happened, grabbing a fistful of popcorn and shoving it into his mouth before laughing at the television screen.

All Chanyeol can do is stare for a couple seconds.  Finally, he speaks.  “What was that?”  He asks, ignoring the way his heart is beating a touch too quick as Baekhyun nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders.

“A kiss.”  He answers, tone matter of fact and simple.

Chanyeol’s brow furrows as he studies Baekhyun for a couple seconds before responding.  “Why?”  He asks, taking note of the way one of Baekhyun’s knees has started to bounce the tiniest bit, a nervous twitch that takes Chanyeol by surprise.

Perhaps Baekhyun isn’t as fearless as he thought.  Perhaps he is just very good at faking it, better than Chanyeol as he considers how he should respond to Baekhyun’s next statement.

“Because I wanted to.  Is that a problem?”

Chanyeol swallows nervously.

Is it a problem?

Not if the way Chanyeol’s heart is beating double time is any indication.  Not if the fact that Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun looks especially cute right now is any indication.  Not if the fact that Chanyeol wants Baekhyun’s lips back on his cheek is any indication.

In fact, the only problem Chanyeol can come up with is what he finally decides to say back to Baekhyun after having to reach out to hold him in place when Baekhyun starts to move to get up from the couch.

“Yes, because you missed.”

Baekhyun laughs as he allows himself be pulled back towards Chanyeol’s side.  “No, I kissed exactly where I intended to.”

“And so will I.”  Chanyeol murmurs, moments before connecting Baekhyun’s lips with his.

Baekhyun is smiling as their lips hit.

 


End file.
